Church Unity: when everything is on the
line
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Our
first reading for today tells us one piece of the story of Joseph. Now, how many of you know something about the
story of Joseph? What do you know about Joseph? Joseph is famous for many
reasons. We know about his famous coat,
his dreaming and interpretation of dreams, his refusal to sleep with his
master’s wife and on and on. When I
think about the nice, clean-cut, wholesome kind of people in scripture, Joseph
is one who comes to mind. Many of the
men and women who God calls throughout the Bible have sordid pasts, but Joseph
always seem to rise above the muck and mire that stain the rest of us, and today’s
story is no exception. Joseph is the
kind of holy, God-follower that many of us long to be. More on that later…
Before
we look too closely at today’s passage, I want to remind you how we got to this
point. When Joseph was a boy, he was his
father’s favorite and, apparently Jacob had not taken any of the parenting
classes that they offer today, because he made it clear to Joseph and his other
eleven boys that Joseph was the favorite, and this did not sit well with
Joseph’s older brothers. On top of
receiving the best of everything from his dad, Joseph was also a dreamer. He dreamed about his brothers bowing down
before him and, in his naivety, he told his brothers about those dreams, which
only added to their hate. So, they came
up with a plan to kill him off and make it look like a wild animal had done the
deed. However, while they were debating
exactly what to do with Joseph, a band of slave traders passed by and the
brothers decided that they might as well earn something from Joseph. So, they sold him into slavery. He was taken to
Now,
I have never been sold into slavery by my brothers, but I can’t imagine that I
would feel particularly kind thoughts towards my brother as I spent my energy
toiling for a foreign master and then as I sat in jail for a crime I had not
committed. I think I would probably stew
on my anger. I would probably grow more
and more bitter at the betrayal and cruelty.
I would probably start by hating my brothers and move to loathing them
and end up at a place of sheer rage as the years passed, even though the only
person my ate would impact is me. But
not Joseph, and to be honest, that is why I am not real sure that I like the
clean-cut, wholesome Joseph. He may be
the kind of holy God-follower that we long to be like on one level, but on
another level, we want permission to hate.
We don’t really want to reconcile with someone who has betrayed us so
deeply, or at least we want permission to avoid them and never speak to them
again, but Joseph doesn’t give any of us that permission.
Instead,
Joseph brings his family together as they have not been for twenty-two
years. Joseph and his eleven brothers
become the twelve tribes of
Joseph
realizes that forgiveness is essential, not for the other person, but for
us. He knew that forgiving his brothers
released their power over him. Jesus
understood the power of forgiveness and wanted us to understand that we have
been forgiven much by God and as a result are called to live in forgiveness
towards those around it. The parable
that Jesus tells in Matthew 18 is powerful (Matt 18:21-35):
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church
sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22
Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven
times.
23 “For this
reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle
accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the
reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents (remember, a talent is
roughly a million dollars—this would be $10 billion!) was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not
pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and
all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So
the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I
will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for
him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28
But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves
who owed him a hundred denarii(or a hundred dayes wages--$10,000 or
so. This is still serious money!); and seizing him by the throat, he said,
‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell
down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30
But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay
the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had
happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their
lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord
summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have
had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34
And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay
his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also
do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your
heart.”
We have been
forgiven much and are called to forgive!
Forgiveness
was the place that Joseph started in the pursuit of unity. He refused to give unforgiveness and
bitterness and anger power over his life.
Forgiveness allowed him to be in the place to seek reconciliation and
move towards restoring unity in his family.
Unity allowed his family to thrive even in the face of the ancient
world’s version of an economic downturn—drought and famine. Joseph’s family thrived when many others ended
up selling themselves as slaves so they could eat! Unity was powerful for Joseph’s family, and it
is powerful for us today in the church.
Listen to how
our reading from Psalm 133 goes expresses the importance of unity. Let me read those words for you again:
1
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 2
It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on
the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. 3
It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of
The psalmist tells us that living in unity is
like oil on the head. This comparison
may sound a bit odd until we realize it is not just talking about any old oil
or any old head. Unity, the psalm tells
us, is like the holy anointing oil upon the head of Aaron. Aaron was the first high priest and the
anointing oil was what bestowed upon him the right to be priest (Lev
8:12). The oil was more than just a
fragrant perfume, it was the very anointing of God for the ministry to which
Aaron had been called (cf. 1 Sam 10:1).
Without the anointing, a high priest was only a high priest in name, not
in reality; a king without God’s anointing was only king in name, not in reality. And, a church without the anointing of
God—well, a church without the anointing of God is just a gathering of people
looking for good music and a few good thoughts.
The
message is strong: unity is key to having the anointing of God. Unity is key to being the church. By unity I do not mean that we all agree
about everything, but I mean that we are a place of genuine care and concern
for one another and we are a church where everyone is moving in the same
direction. Unity of love and
unity of direction. Without that
kind of unity, the church is without anointing and will struggle to be the
people of God to a hurting world. Experience
confirms this. How many people do you
know that want to join a church that is feuding? How many people want to be a part of a family
that cannot get along? Who wants to go
to the family reunion where brothers and sisters cannot say a nice word to each
other? I can’t tell you how many people
have told me, as recently as within the last week, that they have walked out
the church doors and not returned because of fighting within the church. I bet you know some too! My friends, unity matters.
Jesus
offers a word that is just as strong as the psalmist’s. In his prayer in John 17, the one time in
scripture where Jesus prays specifically for the church that would come after
the disciples (that’s us!), Jesus prays this (17:20-23):
"I ask not only on behalf of these,
but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am
in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you
have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that
they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one,
so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as
you have loved me.
Church
unity, Jesus tells us, will lead to the world believing that God sent
Jesus. Nothing more or less than the
success of the mission that Jesus called us to is at stake here, and frankly,
my friends, the capital
Time for some
truth-telling: When I arrived at this
charge I had more than one person in the community tell me that they were sorry
I had been sent here because our church community is known for conflict. No one ever named names or pointed fingers,
but they made it very clear that this church was not a place that they wanted
to be. I realized at that moment that it
was going to be a challenge reaching the community for Christ through our
church. There is something about unity
that draws people. Unity means genuine
community and without it, we struggle to see Christ.
Now, I am
happy to say that the picture these members of our community painted of this church
is not true. Regardless of what has gone
on in the past, this church is not a place of fighting and verbal attacks. I hope that each of you here can own that and
believe it. We are mobbing towards
unity. I have been here for two years
and, for the most part, we have been civil and caring towards each other. I want to thank you for being people who are
working towards unity, and my prayer is that we would continue to grow more and
more in this area until the community around us cannot recognize this church
from who they thought we were. I pray
that we will be so loving and so united that it will cause people to stop and
wonder, and when they think back on what they think they know about this place
they will realize, “you know what, God must be at work in that place,
because they have gone from infighting to love and that can only happen by the
grace of God!”
I can promise
you that people will be drawn in, if we continue to grow in unity and in
love. As we said before a church united
is a church that has unity of love for one another and unity of direction in
following after Jesus Christ.
What
would it look like for us to be united in love and united in direction? How does a church who is united in love
respond when someone is hurting or struggling?
What would this church community look like if we reached out to one
another when we fall down? Look around
you. Many of you can look around this
congregation and see people who have reached out to you when you have fallen
down, or people who have needed your hand to get back on their feet. Those are the times when we have been at our
best, united in love. How can we grow in
that love? I suspect that you can also
look around this congregation and see the empty seats of those who have fallen
down and did not feel that this church was a place that could help pick them
up. Or, maybe, you see the empty seats
of those who left after they were yelled at, or watched someone else get yelled
at. I hope that you have apologized to
them on behalf of the church. I hope it
is also known that as long as I am the pastor here, I will not stand for abusing
one another in the church—this is a place of love and care.
We
said that unity involves unity of love and unity of direction. Unity of direction is tricky. We had a great time coming together last year
with our growth team to work on what it means to be Antioch/Williams United
Methodist Church. We did some good work
together in order to decide just what it is that is our “labor of love.” While we were able to identify some things
that we said were important to us, we have not gotten very far in living out
our labor of love. For us to have unity
of direction, we need to move beyond talk to action. In the coming months, we will be joining with
churches from across this state to look towards the future and declaring what
our goals are for the next four years.
“Continuing to exist” is not on the list. If we are not here for a reason, then there
is no reason to be here. I am convinced
that God has us here, in this community to reach people who would not otherwise
be reached by the Gospel and to touch lives that would not otherwise be touched.
We
will be talking more about what charting our direction as a church looks like
in the coming weeks, but for today, I want us each, as individual to think
about what it means to be people who seek unity of love. We cannot be a united church without
individuals who are committed to doing the hard work.
Just
like I mentioned at the beginning of this message—I am not always sure I like
the example that Joseph gives us of forgiveness and love and reconciliation,
because those things are against our nature.
They are hard. We want to hate
and harbor anger and grow our bitterness, but we are called to pave the way for
unity, and my challenge to you is to listen to how God is calling you to work
for unity in this church.
We are going to read through the Romans
passage three times, pausing between each reading in order to reflect on which
part or parts of the passage God pulls to the front of your mind. Allow God to guide your attention to a word
or phrase and mark it in your bulletin and reflect on what it would mean for
you to live out this call of God.
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is
good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in
showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in
prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to
strangers. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but
associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what
is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live
peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath
of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is
mine, I will repay, says the Lord." 20 No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are
thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning
coals on their heads." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Romans 12